One of the most internationally famous bossa nova songs of all time, The Girl from Ipanema is a classic with easy to follow lyrics. It’s useful to see a side by side translation, especially since the song is also sung in English (the most famous recording by Frank Sinatra), but with slightly different lyrics. Here, we have the literal translation of the original Portuguese lyrics sung by Tom Jobim, along with a video with subtitles.

This music is the essence of our honeymoon in 1968 in Longboat Key, Fla near Sarasota. Every few years we go back and stay in the very same motel apt, now a condo, play this music, our “beach music” plus other special songs and soft styles and relive that honeymoon! It is in our souls, the beach, the surf, the sand and the music: the beginning of our 44 years of committed marriage. This is the first time I’ve ever seen the lyrics and translation. I am in tears as I listened and write this.

I love Joao Gilberto! and I LOVE BRAZIL! IT IS THE BEST COUNTRY IN ALL OF SOUTH AMERICA! ARGENTINA IS AMAZING TOO! THE TWO BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRIES IN ALL OF SOUTH AMERICA! VERY BEAUTIFUL, CIVILIZED, LOVELY PEOPLE!

This is not a literal translation and it’s very-very adapted to not say wrong.
Oh, and you should tag it as Vinicius de Moraes, since he’s the real lyricist of this version (there was a first version that was different, composed by him and Tom Jobim).

I am only a beginning Portuguese student, but one of my first lessons was to translate and comment on the song. Although sung beautifully by Sinatra, et. al., I believe the recorded English version (it’s not even close to being a translation) is very superficial and misses entirely the deeper meaning of the original song in Portuguese.

The song is about much more than a guy sitting at a sidewalk bar and longing for a particular girl that walks by. It is rich with symbolism. As the girl passes by swinging, so does the sea with the tide, so does beauty and youth with time.

No one ownes beauty; no one has it for very long. The transient nature of beauty is also a cause of the sadness, but in the end there is love, which is beautiful, and it makes it all worthwhile. This what I got out of the Portuguese version of the song anyway.

My 20 year-old son just spent the last hour trying to convince me that this song (the English lyrics, anyway) painted a picture of a man his age who was too busy feeling sorry for himself to simply go and talk to the girl. He has a point, but that was not the point of the song (which is easier to appreciate in the original Portuguese lyrics). The poet paints a picture of a woman whose beauty is the embodiment of love but — alas — is too beautiful to touch. The poet is talking about the beauty of unrequited love (“longing is the sweetest part of loving”). Sure, “unrequited” is not a practical way to get along in life, but for that matter, one can’t feed oneself on rose petals. It would be sad if the contemporary vision of love becomes so fixed on the destination that the lover doesn’t know how he got there.

I can’t believe how we changed the meaning of the song with our translation. The beauty of the Portuguese lyrics are so much better. We butchered it with our translation.
I’m a conductor, and I’d love for my orchestra to play the original song, but I’m having a lot of trouble deciphering the meter of the lyrics. Can you, or anyone, please capitalize the lyrics that have the same emphasis as the English version.

Thank you so much for this literal translation. The English version was serviceable, but the Portuguese lyrics have so much more depth. As I get older I appreciate beauty and am painfully aware at how ephemeral it can be.

Don’t be silly. The most famous version is, of course Astrud Gilberto’s bi-lingual recording, on the 1964 hit single that catapulted Bossa Nova into the pubic eye. Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, Astrud’s husband Joao on guitar, and Jobim himself on piano are the back-up band–if you can call such a collection of luminaries back-up. Frank Sinatra? Are you serious?

Hi Hanike it is interesting to read that you say the above translation is not correct. Do you have access to Vinicius de Moraes original version and could have it transalated into English for the benefit of us English speakers? Many thanks Lula